It started at gawdawful in the morning (7:00), after very little sleep..
Oded and I went out to find ourselves a trekking backpack… We took the Skytrain – upper story train – to the shopping district, which we discovered only opens at 10:00.. (Just a reminder.. It’s now about 7:30..) Ugh.. So we walked around for a little, and met a very nice Thai man who wanted to practise his English. He explained that on Fridays everything opens at 10:00, and where we should go for shopping and all the big attractions of Bangkok. He then proceeded to arrange with a nearby Tuk Tuk driver to take us to the shopping center for about half the price we would have otherwise paid. 🙂

We got our backpacks – for about 5% of their cost in Israel 🙂 – and went back to the hotel to repack and check out. Oded got this monster backpack – 120 litres.. It can hold pretty much all of our luggage including the original 2 bags we brought with us! 🙂 I have a smaller 50 litre bag. It’s nice.. 🙂

After heading out, we decided to find lodgings in Khoa San, which is the district most frequented by backpackers and Israelis. The upside is lodging here is dirt cheap. We found a place for less than a quarter of what we paid for last night.. Though at about a quarter of the luxury.. Khoa San is crawling with Israelis – to the point that the Tuk Tuk drivers speak fluent Hebrew and there are Falafel and Shawarma stands! (the Tuk Tuk driver introduced himself as a “Nahag Sababa” – cool driver and a “Nahag Shodim” – Robbery get-away driver! He was really funny 🙂 ) I finally got a chance to roam a market and haggle – I managed to buy a shawal for 160 Bat instead of 280! I’m very proud of me. 🙂
Just a point of interest – 1 NIS = 10 Bat. Things here really are dirt cheap, at least for me. It’s expensive for the locals..

I’m having a wonderful time, when I’m not dying from the heat. Surprisingly, there is much more to eat here that I feared, even if some of my meals are potato chips of different sorts 😉 For the sea-food squeamish there is a large variety of vegetarian foods, at least until you add the dried shrimp! 😉 For the less squeamish but spicy-challanged *wave* there are quite a few treats here. The Street vendors have some great food, as long as it’s made in front of me and I can see the ingredients. There is also an incredible selection of strange and unidentifiable fruits, alongside the watermelon and pineapple that I recognize. 🙂 It’s a lot of fun! 🙂
Unfortunately, I’m dying of heat much too often here. Is’t an average of 37 deg without the added humidity.. While it’s not as rainy as I feared (It’s actually not rainy at all…), as Eric waned, I will probably be coming back moldy.. 🙂